Since 1970 there have been Earth Day events held in support of environmental protection every year on April the 22nd. The number of events held around the world has increased each year as people have become more concerned about the impact of different environmental issues. There are now events held in almost 200 countries with more with Earth Day organisers estimating that over one billion people take part. It also seems as though more and more brands are taking an interest in raising awareness of Earth Day.
This year Apple are raising awareness with the Apple Watch Earth Day Challenge. This year Apple are challenging Apple Watch owners to carry out 30 minutes or more of exercise which will be tracked using individual owners personal devices. Here at First Class Watches we are going to take the time to give some attention to the watch brands who carry out environmentally friendly work all year round.
We already know about the fantastic work that Oris watches are doing, with their ‘The Oceans Project’ and the ‘Go Your Own Way’ mission, which has seen the release of the Great Barrier Reef III and the Clean Ocean Limited Edition which both promote and support ocean conservation projects, to save our oceans before it’s too late. We have also seen the new Certina DS Action Diver Sea Turtle Conservancy 60th Anniversary, which supports turtle conservation. However, we have already heard about the work Oris are doing, so continue reading to find out what else watch brands are up to to support a more Eco-friendly way of living.
Environmentally Friendly WeWood Watches
One brand who are very dedicated to being environmentally friendly are WeWood all year round. The watches crafted by WeWood are have a unique branding and style because they are crafted completely out of wood. There’s no doubt that these impressive unique watches do stand out amongst the crowd of different watches you can find on the market today. What is even more impressive is that WeWood plant one new tree for every watch purchased, so you know that you can make a real difference with your next watch purchase!
Hublot Saving Big Cats This Earth Day
When it comes to being environmentally friendly it is important to remember that there are a high number of species rapidly becoming extinct. Hublot helped take a step towards halting that impact when they partnered with the Black Jaguar-White Tiger Foundation for a limited edition watch series. The Black Jaguar-White Tiger Foundation have been actively protecting large cats such as jaguars and tigers from abuse in captivity. This foundation has rescued at least 295 cats from awful conditions and hopefully the money received from the watches sold in this partnership will help them to rescue many more.
IWC Introduce Sustainability Goals
IWC are one of the longest lasting Swiss watch brands, being active ever since the mid-1800’s. Not content with producing some of the most respected movements on the market, they also took a huge step forward with their environmental procedures in 2018. They set sustainability targets that they hope to achieve by 2020 which underlines their long standing commitment to sustainability and energy-effective practices.
IWC were also the only Swiss manufacturer examined by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature to receive an ambitious rating for their environmental procedures during 2018. Hopefully more manufacturers will follow IWC’s lead and commit to ambitious sustainability practices in the following years.
Casio Keeping Environmental Outcomes Public
One of the biggest problems with the current trend towards environmental marketing is that brands often talk a good game. But fail to keep the public updated on the how close they are to achieving any of the goals they shout about. Many companies could be wildly off target, but we’d never know because only the targets are made public!
Casio keep all of their work towards achieving goals set in their Environmental Vision 2050 public on their official website. This allows people to see if they are working towards their goals and if they are achieving them. They are also so transparent that they choose to publish their results even if they haven’t carried out any work towards their targets whatsoever! This commitment to being open about their goals and how close they are to hitting them puts them ahead of most other brands in their environmentally friendly achievements.
Conclusion
As we head towards Earth Day 2019 it is important to recognise one of the historic problems in the wrist watch and jewellery industry. The sheer lack of transparency when it comes to the supply chain of most manufacturers makes it difficult to know whether who we should be buying from if we want to buy environmentally friendly watches.
Thankfully, manufacturers are starting to realise the importance of reducing environmental impacts from their manufacturing process. It’s good to see some of the bigger brands starting to take steps towards making improvements in this area. Hopefully this great work carried out by some of the big brands in the industry will help more and more brands start to follow their lead.
